Naushad Passed Away!

New Delhi: Veteran music director Naushad Ali died on Friday morning. He was 86.

Born in December 1919, Naushad Ali is regarded as one of the greatest music directors of Indian cinema.

He studied under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali and Ustad Babban Saheb.

Akbar Khan's recent release Taj Mahal, that was recently released in Pakistan, was his last work as music director.

Credited with introducing classical music into Indian cinema, he composed for 67 Hindi films.

He was the recipient of Padmabushan and the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award.

His most memorable compositions were classic Bollywood blockbusters Mother India (1957), Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Ganga Jamuna (1961) and Mere Mehboob (1963), Naushad completed Pakeezah (1972).

Many of his compositions were inspired by Indian ragas and used distinguished classical artistes like Amir Khan and D V Pulaskar in Baiju Bawra (1952) and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in Mughal-e-Azam (1960).

Even before he began his musical stint in Mumbai, Naushad was a keen student of music.

He repaired harmoniums and composed for amateur theatricals such as the windsor music entertainers.

He moved to Mumbai in the late 1930s to try his luck as a musician, but found the going tough.

He had to struggle for survival and saw days of acute deprivation, spent nights on the footpath before he got a break as a pianist in composer Mushtaq Hussain's orchestra.

He joined music director Khemchand Prakash (his would-be mentor) as his assistant.

Prem Nagar (1940) was his first independent break but he first got noticed with Sharda (1942) wherein 13-year-old Suraiya did the playback for heroine Mehtab.

But it was Rattan (1944) that catapulted Naushad into the big league.

After Rattan became a hit, he started charging Rs 25,000 a film then.

His compositions like Ankhiyaan Milake and Sawan ke Badalon became instant hits and were on everybody's lips.

He churned out hit after hit in the 1940s director AR Kardar's flims like Shahjehan (1946), Dard (1947), Dillagi (1949), Dulari (1949) and Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946), Elaan (1947), Anoki Ada (1948), Andaaz (1949).

Naushad also gave India's melody queen Lata Mangeshkar an opportunity to sing and Andaaz and Dulari were instrumental in her rise to the top.